Woman march in Venezuelan capital against socialist govt

An anti-government protesters covers her mouth with a zipper during a women march against repression in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, May 6, 2017. Weeks of violent protests calling on President Nicolas Maduro to step down have left dozens of people dead. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Women banged on pans and some stripped off their white shirts Saturday as they protested Venezuela's socialist government in an event the opposition billed as a "women's march against repression." As they marched, local media carried a video showing people toppling a statue of the late President Hugo Chavez the day before in the western state of Zulia.

Thousands of women on Saturday took over some main streets in the wealthy eastern part of the city. Wearing the white shirts of the opponents of country's increasingly embattled government, the women sang the national anthem and chanted, "Who are we? Venezuela! What do we want? Freedom!"

As they have near-daily for five weeks, police in riot gear again took control of major roads in the capital city. Clashes between police and protesters have left some three dozen dead in the past month.

Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez on Friday denounced the protest movement, and said opposition "terrorists" were attempting a kind of nonconventional warfare.

The government was also planning a counter women's march on Saturday in the city's downtown.

Local news media on Friday carried a video circulating on Twitter of the Chavez statue being pulled down. The media reported that students destroyed the statue as they vented their anger with the food shortages, inflation and spiraling crime that have come to define life here.

The protest movement has drawn masses of people into the street nearly every day since March, and shows no sign of slowing. On Saturday, some of the women marchers approached soldiers in riot gear to offer them daisies and invite them to join the cause.

"What will you tell your kids later on?" one woman asked.

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Hannah Dreier on Twitter: https://twitter.com/hannahdreier . Her work can be found at https://www.ap.org/explore/venezuela-undone .

The Associated Press is an American multinational nonprofit news agency headquartered in New York City. The AP is owned by its contributing newspapers, radio, and television stations in the United States, all of which contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists.

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